Manish Tewari raises doubts over Cong electoral rolls

New Delhi, Aug 31 (IANS) Congress leader Manish Tewari has raised doubts over the electoral rolls ahead of the party 's presidential poll saying it should be made public to ensure a free and fair election process.

The Anandpur Sahib MP was reacting to veteran party leader Madhusudan Mistry's remark that party members wishing to contest can get access to the list in PCC offices as the list of electors has not been made public.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday, he said: "With great respect @MD_Mistry ji How can there be a fair & free election without a publicly available electoral roll ? Essence of a fair & free process is that names & addresses of electors must be published on @INCIndia website in a transparent manner."

Tewari said that as per media reports, the list is not made public but if party members want to check, they can check at the PCC office.

He said that the entire list of electors should be made available on the Congress website.

"How can someone consider running if he/she does not know who electors are? If someone has to file his/her nomination & gets it proposed by 10 Congre'sperson's as is requirement CEA can reject it saying they are not valid electors," he said.

He alleged that Congress has announced polls to fill up the president's post but ignored the election to 28 state Congress committees and 8 territorial committees.

"Why should someone have to go to every PCC office in the country to find out who the electors are ? This does not happen in a club election also with great respect. In the interests of fairness & transparency I urge your good self to publish." he said.

The Election of Congress President is on October 17 followed by counting of votes on October 19.

Congress G-23 leaders Prithviraj Chavan, Anand Sharma and Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday met Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has resigned from the party and is going to hold his first public meeting in Jammu in September's first week.

The G-23 leaders are understood to be planning to contest the Presidential polls of the party which is slated on October 17.

Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, who is likely to throw his hat into the ring, however said that: "Let's wait for sometime."

According to sources, Tharoor and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithivraj Chavan are likely candidates who could challenge the Gandhis' candidate.